Monte Carlo, Mille Miglia, Nurburgring .
These are the deadliest curves, filled with the legends of men, machines and immortality.
Join me for a tour of the giants of racing, from 1896 through the 1960's, and their pictures and stories.
Blood, victory, defeat and courage; often in the same race.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

1959 was the year of the "long" dash (think the 1932 Ford Milner coupe from American Graffiti) in home-built hot rods, almost all of them with a bit of Von Dutch -type pinstripe flair around the gauges.

But the Jerry Woodward 1929 (thereabouts) Ford roadster was an interesting exception.

This was a roadster built for speed, with good looks to boot. Fat whitewalls, Continental Kit, fancy dual headlights... this was a sharp rig.

For his dashboard, he went part traditional, part race, and part James Bond...

When you stepped in to the interior, you were greeted by the classic 1940 Ford gauge set (a traditional standard), and what appears to be a speaker grille, and a closed jockey box.

Until Jerry pulled up next to his next victim.

Down came the glove compartment lid, and... boom! There sat a pair of twin Stewart Warner gauges, ready for action.

Judging from the sizes, I'd guess that the two were a pressure gauge and a tachometer. So while Jerry is doing the heavy lifting, the passenger is eyeballing the pressure and tach RPM's for fun and profit. Either he is shouting out shift points, or just enjoying the show as the tach needle seesaws through the gears. Either way, it had to be a blast...

The first time that an unsuspecting ride-along popped open the glove compartment it must've been a happy surprise. He had to have known he was in for a treat; a sleeper dash transformed at the touch of a button into a hold-on-to-your seat adventure!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

These are some low-res (literally taken in a barn) shots of a couple of catalogs from the late 19th Century. Above and just below are pictures from Galloway, an early and popular vendor of gasoline-powered farm engines.

The artwork is beautiful.

And here are some from the D. S. Morgan Company featuring it's Triumph line. The first two are scans I picked up elsewhere.